这个是中国 – This is China

Many of you have emailed me about books to read before coming to China. During the past two years, I have read several books about China’s culture and history; these books have been invaluable in providing a theoretical framework for understanding modern China, but I had never found a book with practical advice besides Understanding the Chinese, by Cornelius Grove. The other day, however, I found a review by Iain Manley on Holidayfu.com which gives a nice summary of the book, This is China, by Megan Eaves.

I’ve said it before: “This is China.” I use the phrase to describe all sorts of things that might not make much sense or are just radically different than what we experience in the western world. And that’s what this book does; it helps people to prepare for coming to China to teach English. Essentially this book is a collection of things that I read at different stages of my life here, collected from different sources: Peace Corps China survival manual, my first Peace Corps China Handbook, History and Culture packets, and all of those gleanings from the various books about modern China.

But it’s more than this. In Peace Corps we don’t have to negotiate for our contracts. We are part of a program sent by the American government. We go. We teach. We leave. But many people who come to China are alone. They don’t have cross-cultural training sessions or an understanding of what the Chinese classroom looks like. Many people who come here have to deal with paperwork, contracts, plane tickets, and a host of other things that I took for granted (because, let’s be honest, all of it WAS granted). If you are interested in teaching in China, check out the review at Holidayfu.